Tuesday, 27 January 2009

Calls for humanitarian aid, or funds for the needy, are well deserved when they apply to the dying, the starving, or the diseased in our world.

The huge numbers of people dying of malnutrition or disease in Africa and Asia is heartbreaking. Thousands, if not millions, do not live in any thing more than a hovel bereft of running water and certainly with no electricity.

Charity organisations face a daunting task when trying to cope with this massive blight on our planet.

Compare that with the plight of the Palestinians.

The Palestinians have been the worlds biggest charity case for so many years. Their status as 'victims' has been perpetuated for years. Their 'cause' has been blindly echoed in most of the Western media magnifying the level of their needs out of all proportion.

If the word 'disproportionate' deserves to be used it must be applied to the exaggerated amount of money that has poured into the restricted Palestinian terrortiries (not a spelling mistake) for decades.

The Palestinians have received more funding, more humanitarian aid, more world sympathy, than the mega-disasters of Darfur, Ruanda, and other genocides and famines in Africa and Asia.

Why do they deserve more money than the starving masses of Africa? Why do they receive more UN aid and charity than the homeless in other parts of the world?

Why have they made themselves the professional schnorrers of the world? Why are they always at the head of the queue? Why do the United Nations maintain a refugee status, dating back over sixty years, that does not apply to any other ethnic, religious, or national group save for Palestinians?

Maybe the reason is that the Palestinians, and the anti-Semites, can use their cause as a weapon to hit Israel , despite the fact that their cause can be easily and quickly settled with pragmatism and a genuine desire to create a state of their own living alongside the Jewish state.

It is certainly true that, traditionally and systematically, the Palestinian leadership from Arafat to Hamas, have robbed their people of the massive funding that has come their way.

But the Palestinians act as if they do not want a pragmatic settlement to the conflict . They are caught up in a rhetoric, religious and political in nature, that says suffering is a victory, death is a victory, and that peace with a Zionist enemy is a defeat.

Only a solution that eliminates the Jewish state is acceptable, no matter how long it will take.

This, ultimately, is what the funding is for.

We now see violence on the streets of London because certain media broadcasters in Britain refuse to air the appeal for humanitarian aid to the Palestinians of Gaza.The violence really says that the political message is more important than the charity.

But let us examine the humanitarian crisis in Gaza more closely. True, many buildings were destroyed and and infrastructure damaged as a result of the conflict that erupted due to eight thousand rockets fired by Hamas into Israel over the years.

I ask a simple question. Didn't the majority of Gazans vote for this Islamic terror regime in Palestinian elections of 2005?Does this not imply that they rallied to Hamas who were electioneering on a program of death and destruction against the Jewish state?Does this not make them as collectively guilty as the German nation who identified solidly with Hitler and the Third Reich?

This is not to support the death of innocent children or civilians, though none were deliberately targeted by the IDF as were the one million Israelis who suffered the rain of Islamic rockets from Gaza - not to mention those killed or maimed by Palestinian car bombs, suicide attacks, and gunmen over the decades of the conflict.

But let us look at the so called humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Look closely at the footage that your media relays to you on the damage in Gaza.Look at the buildings that have been hit. Don't most of them look new constructions?The modern housing estates are far from the desolate hovels of the truly needy.

Israel reported, and this was confirmed, that the IDF texted mobiles and called thousands of phones warning the inhabitants in advance of an attack on the Hamas terrorists that were hiding in their midst.Doesn't this prove that most Gazan families have phone lines and mobile phones?

Most of the families in Gaza possess a vehicle of sorts from an old truck to new automobiles.

Israeli soldiers, who were forced to enter many of the Gazan homes, reported that most were well furnished and equipped. In many the children had computers with games or access to the internet.

So where is the tremendous humanitarian crisis?

What sort of humanitarian crisis do the Palestinians have that makes their need greater than the desperately hungry in our ravaged world?

Surely it is, in truth, a propaganda exercise that can also raise funds for the intractable Islamic leadership in Gaza?

Yes, they have a temporary water shortage. Yes, there are homes to reconstruct? Yes, there are those requiring, and receiving, medical attention.

But the world has ignored the fact that one thousand and eight three trucks of humanitarian aid (that's 1083) were transported from Israel into Gaza during the three weeks of the conflict.

What could the starving people of Darfur have done with half that amount of aid? What would the homeless thousands in India have done with the other half during that period?

Palestinian needs have become a middle class humanitarian crisis. They have become the cause celebre in our politically incorrect world.

Sunday, 25 January 2009

Israel was accused by Sky News of deliberately targeting civilians with the use of white phosphorous during the recent Gaza conflict.This accusation was repeatedly inflicted on Sky viewers throughout the weekend.This disproportionate act of false reporting took on a more serious tone as Sky openly accused Israel of war crimes.

Sky failed to report from inside Gaza of the proven war crimes, and crimes against humanity, of Hamas by using civilians, including children, as human shields. Their reporters, inside Gaza, failed to report in any details on the regular use by Hamas of buildings including schools, mosques, and UN facilities to fire rockets into Israel.Neither did they report at all on Hamas fighters killing, torturing, and imprisoning other Palestinians suspected of belonging to the rival Fatah faction.

In fact, Sky News prefers to portray all Palestinians as civilians as if Israel's fight was not against a radical Islamic regime guilty of decades of crimes against humanity.

During the same weekend the BBC World Service put out a cursory report stating that British forces in Afghanistan had reportedly killed fifteen Taliban fighter linked to Al Qaida. Other reports claimed that all the dead were innocent civilians, including women and children.

Does this sound familiar?

Why doesn't Sky News send Dominic Waghorn from Gaza to Afghanistan to report from the Afghani side of the conflict?He will surely discover that British forces regularly fire all sorts of munitions into civilian areas populated by tribal fighters who have been ambushing and killing British soldiers.

Perhaps instead of reporting on the fact that the Taliban, an Islamic terror group like Hamas, hide behind civilians he will report on the deliberate targeting by British forces into civilian areas. Perhaps he will show Sky viewers the ruins of towns and villages, of civilians without humanitarian aid or water, of Afghanis being air bombed by the RAF and British artillery that often miss their intended targets.

Based on these facts will Sky News accuse the British army of war crimes?

The censorship of the activities of British forces in Afghanistan is total. You do not hear complaints from the British media that they are prevented from reporting the other side of the conflict. Why don't they go into Afghanistan and tell their viewers what is happening to innocent civilians there?

Instead British viewers are treated to a jingoistic reporting, deliberately approved by the British Government, that turn their forces into white knights doing a sterling job on foreign soil.

They even glory in the fact that they send their royals there to kill Afghanis. Prince Harry has been seen performing his military duty there.

Viewers occasionally get to see British soldiers firing missiles long range into suspected targets some distance away. These suspected targets are always small towns and villages. One never gets to see the devastation inflicted by British soldiers on innocent Afghani civilians.

It is a fact that hundreds of women and children have been slaughtered in the years of the Afghan conflict. This conflict is not a three week job. It has been going on for many years. It will continue for many more years. Newly elected President Barack Obama has pledged to intensify the war effort here. This means that even more British soldiers will be involved. This means that even more innocent Afghani civilians will be killed.Yet Sky does not find it news worthy.

They are prevented from reporting on the devastation and death resulting from British military action there due to military censorship. Yet this is acceptable to them. They do not accuse the British military of covering up war crimes by preventing reporters on to the battlefield, as they recently did against the IDF.

They won't, because this does not reflect the patriotic image they wish to portray to their viewers.

Instead they diagnose any conflict involving Israel from an anti-Israel perspective, always reporting the lies made by the other side as if they are facts, exaggerate their claims disproportionately, falsely accuse Israel of war crimes, then walk away leaving Israel with a damaged reputation caused by their irresponsible reporting.

What utter hypocrisy! What simplistic and damaging reporting! What lack of journalistic responsibility!

Friday, 23 January 2009

The brutal truth is that Hamas killed more of their fellow Palestinians than Israelis during the recent Gaza conflict.It is reliably reported that Hamas members 'executed' over 75 members of the rival Fatah movement out of fear that Fatah would have sided with the advancing Israeli forces and against the Islamic terror regime. Hundreds of other Palestinians were either tortured or are still imprisoned by Hamas during the recent fighting.

Thursday, 22 January 2009

This is a letter penned by a guy named David who lives in a kibbutz in the south of Israel to his Gaza neighbour.

It reflects the feelings of the majority of Israelis fed up with decades of Palestinian Islamic terror.

Dear neighbor,

My name is David and I live in Israel, thirty minutes (or one minute rocket time) from you, in a beautiful house by the woods.

I hope someday to have you over for a cup of tea. We have a lovely view from the balcony.On a clear day we can see our jets bombing your neighborhood.I think it's time we had a heart to heart. It's time you knew the truth. After all, what are neighbors for?

You might have wondered why both you and your parents were born in a refugee camp. Why is it that even though we live only 30 minutes apart, I live in prosperity and you live in poverty and filth?Why you live in despair and hatred while we live in hope and love. Here is the truth, neighbor:

There really was a Holocaust. I realize you've been taught otherwise. I know, that ever since you were a small child you've been told that the Holocaust is something the Jews fabricated to justify taking your land. Well, dear citizen of Gaza, it really happened. Not very long ago. It happened. And guess what? It's NEVER going to happen again. The time in history when Jews were led to slaughter, persecuted, raped and pillaged is over and will never recur. Never. Now we have our own country. Now we have the bombs. We will never forget what was done to our people and you better not either.

We don't hate you. We don't hate anyone. Jews are a peaceful people. We do not want your land. We don't want oil. We don't want to rape your women or murder your children. We never tried to force our religion on anyone.

Our eternal capital, Jerusalem, is open to all faiths to love and to worship. We treat your Arab brothers who live among us as equals.

Our hand has been extended to peace with our neighbors since day one. We have proven this time and time again through numerous negotiations and extensive compromise.We ask only for one thing. Leave us in peace. That's right. We have no other demands. Just leave us in peace. It's as simple as that.If you don't, we will fight back ferociously and mercilessly. We will destroy your homes and your cities. We will make your miserable lives even more miserable.

If you don't want this to happen any more, leave us in peace.Our soldiers are not motivated by hate but by determination. We embrace life and will do anything to preserve it. However, we will kill and die to protect our land and our way of life.

That's what they should be teaching in your schools instead of useless lies.A terrorist is a terrorist.Sorry to be the one to break the news, but it's about time somebody told you that a terrorist is nothing more than a coward. Not a hero. Not a Shahid.

There is nothing heroic in blowing yourself up amongst a crowd of woman and children. Anybody can do it. Anybody can hide inside a school or a mosque and blindly fire rockets into cities, hoping to kill as many babies as possible.

There is nothing courageous or admirable in these acts of cruelty. To take pride in an act of terror is pitiful and pathetic.

I know you've been raised to believe the contrary, but it is a lie. I have seen how your children are taught to commit suicide. How your suicide bombers are glorified. This is tragically sad.

A real hero faces his enemy and doesn't hide in schools and hospitals. A real hero protects his people and will die for them but not among them.

Israel exists and it belongs to the Jewish People. I've seen your school books. I know that Israel has been omitted from your maps.

Contrary to what you've been told, the State of Israel really does exist. Look outside your window. We are here and we are not going anywhere.

Dear Palestinian neighbor, it's time to deal with the facts.We love our beautiful little country. We will protect it with our lives. You are not getting it.

This was explained t o you in 1948. You got your country and we got ours. Your arrogant and stupid leaders promised you that you will get the whole thing.Thousands of lives have been lost for nothing. It's NEVER going to happen!

While you have been foolishly drooling over our land instead of nurturing your own, we have built one of the most beautiful and successful countries on Earth. We have done it not to spite our greedy neighbors, but rather in spite of them.

We have millions of refugees, but no refugee camps.You could do the same.Focus on what you have and not on what you will never have. It takes love, hard work and determination. We can help.We have experts and scientists helping developing nations across the globe. Accept the facts,lay down your weapons and join us in making this great region of the planet even greater.

Following is UN Watch's testimony to the emergency U.N. Human Rights Council session on Gaza.Mr. President, much of this session has revolved around a fundamental misconception—one so elementary, and yet, in recent weeks, so pervasive in the United Nations, the media, and influential circles of opinion the world over.The misconception is that in the current war between Hamas and Israel, culpability is to be determined by simply comparing the amount of deaths and casualties on each side, and then reaching a verdict. Israel must be the guilty party, goes the logic, because the numbers are so much higher on the Hamas side.Certainly this is the implied argument of the tally provided in the resolution that is before us today. Its tongue-in-cheek tone about Israeli casualties seeks to dismiss the quantity and quality of Israeli suffering from Hamas crimes, choosing to qualify the rockets fired against Israeli civilians as "crude."The terror of ten thousand rockets over eight years is ignored.In the diplomatic world, this guilt-by-numbers argument find expression in the frequently heard accusation that Israel is acting "disproportionately." And with its superficial simplicity—comparing numbers—and repeated so often, the argument seems to have prevailed.Yet where does one find in international law, in state practice, or in common sense, a rule, precedent or rationale to support this proposition?The answer: Nowhere.The proportionality obligation under international law is completely different.It requires that a military operation be directed at a legitimate military objective, and that expected collateral damage not be excessive in relation to the anticipated military objective.In the past 8 years, Hamas and its allies fired 10,000 rockets against the civilians of Israel.Which sovereign country represented here would tolerate such aggression, and allow a terrorist group, sworn to its destruction, to play Russian roulette with its women and children?No one.The truth is that Hamas is committing a double war crime: deliberately targeting Israeli civilians and hiding behind their own. Hamas hides their guns and bombs in mosques, they booby-trap schools, they put their terrorist headquarters under hospitals. Hamas doesn't commit "violations" of international humanitarian law, their entire raison d'etre and modus operandi—to murder civilians, to destroy a state—negates the very notion of international humanitarian law.They and their sponsors bear full responsibility for the tragic casualties that ensue. They alone have the power to end the hostilities.Precisely because it's so hard to deny that Israel is acting in self-defense, the last refuge of those who would automatically blame Israel is the misused charge of "disproportionality."No matter how often Israel is attacked, whatever actions it takes in self-defense is denied by the blame-Israel voices under one or another pretext.Mr. President, where was the U.N. Human Rights Council when these 10,000 rockets were being fired, day after day over eight years? What is the credibility today of all those who chose silence? Thank you, Mr. President.Click here for video highlights of U.N. debate

Thursday, 15 January 2009

The Hamas Charter does, in fact, call for the destruction of Israel. Occupation for Hamas means Jews having a state of our own in Israel, not occupation in Gaza. We left Gaza. This was interpreted as weakness in the face of Islamic 'resistance' (i.e. terror).

Some would protest that their charter does not call for the destruction of 'Israeli people' but listen to their rhetoric. Listen to what their imams preach from their pulpits. Listen what radical Muslims are taught about Jews. That we are pigs and monkeys and that they are religiously obligated to slaughter a Jew in the name of Allah.

Hamas were democratically elected in Gaza on a platform of war – not peace. The destruction of the Jewish state – not the adoption of a two state solution. Everything they have done since that election, every speech, every action, every deed, has been in honour of their pledge to their electorate – to eradicate the Jewish state and 'end the occupation (of Israel by Israelis).

The Palestinian Prime Minister Haniya did say that he was prepared to accept a state along the 1967 borders – but only as the first stage in the final elimination of the Zionist entity (i.e.Israel).

This was not an opportunity for a peaceful solution but an interlude whereby Hamas can strength their forces before the next stage of their struggle to destroy Israel.This is exactly the same tactics used in his past and present calls for a ceasefire during which period Hamas quickly builds up its forces and its armory for the next round of terror against the Jewish state.

Hundreds of rockets were fired into Israel from Hamas controlled Gaza from June 2008. I do not accept that the rockets did not have the Hamas stamp on them. Hamas works closely, pays for and supervises the activities of Islamic Jihad and Izz a-Din al-Qassam – all are Islamic terror organizations united under the same banner.

The ceasefire was not broken by an Israeli assault. It had been repeatedly broken throughout its period. Then Hamas officially declared the ceasefire had ended and continued its rocket attack.

Lies have emanated from Gaza on the death toll. Exaggerated figures have been given about civilian deaths. The IDF are reporting as of 14 January that they have killed 850 armed Palestinians. Because most of these terrorists wore civilian clothes when attempting to kill Israel soldiers with guns, RPGs, anti-tank missiles, grenades, booby-traps, roadside bombs, and suicide attacks does not make them civilians.

Hamas and Fatah have never been 'partners for peace'. In fact Hamas killed Fatah personnel in their bloody coup in the Gaza Strip. During the current fighting they have 'executed' at least seventy five fellow Palestinians out of fear that, as Fatah members, they would report Hamas hideouts and weapon stores to the advancing Israeli forces.

Fatah members, in fact most of the Arab world, hate Hamas for what they stand for. That is why the Arab world did nothing to help Hamas during the conflict.

They recognize the true face of Hamas. It is time the rest of the world did the same.

I wish, after the current conflict, I could see a peaceful end but facts on the ground will prove otherwise.

You have to really understand the deep political and religious ambitions of groups like Hamas, Hizbollah, Islamic Jihad to truly appreciate that there can be no permanent peaceful solution to the Middle East conflict.

Their Charters, their indoctrination, their faith, will always prevent them from achieving a new Middle East based on a two state solution. For them Israel, as a democratic Jewish state, will always be an abomination in their eyes.

Therefore, Israel is condemned to a threatened future through no fault of its own.

There is a military theory that to bring an enemy to surrender you have to degrade his forces by at least 25%.This theory has been proven in previous wars. Enemies retain the spirit of battle until consistent onslaught and the depletion of its fighting force cause it to collapse. The mathematic equation has shown that the enemy needs to lose at least a quarter of its manpower before this state of collapse leads to its defeat.

The Israeli Government has repeatedly stated that it was never its intention to defeat Hamas, merely to stop the rocket attacks on its citizens, and to prevent further rearming of Hamas.

The media and diplomats, impervious to decades of Palestinian terrorism and suicide bombers and eight years and six thousand Hamas rockets on Israeli civilians, have now found their voice. The Gaza death toll has moved them to protest the conflict and demand an immediate ceasefire, despite the fact that the vast majority of Palestinian dead are Islamic terrorists.

In certain circles Israel has been accused of operating a ruthless war. They ignore the fact that the IDF dropped thousands of leaflets and made one hundred thousand phone calls warning people to move out of the intended areas of operation in order to prevent damage to the civilians population. This was done despite the fact that it warned the enemy of Israel's military intent, putting its soldiers at greater risk.

Throughout the conflict Israel has sent into Gaza hundreds of trucks with humanitarian aid in order to reduce the suffering of the civilian population. Yet the media conducted a fictitious campaign of a humanitarian crisis. This was mainly intending to show Israel in a bad light. They were assisted in this effort by statements of UN aid officials claiming that Israel had killed one of their drivers. One particularly obnoxious individual almost accused Israel of a war crime. It turned out that this driver was not killed by an Israeli tank shell, but by a bullet from a Hamas sniper. Facts have never stopped the media and pro Hamas politicians from stopping their attacks against Israel.

We shall soon see the upcoming law suits against Israel and its officers accusing them of all sorts of war crimes. These legal eagles will not stop to bring Hamas to book for its human rights offences, such as using civilians as human shields, abuses of children in their terror campaign against Israel, deliberately targeting thecivilian population of Israel for decades, killing and violence against their own population, such as political rivals, Christians, Muslims who do abide by their strict Islamic laws.

It can be argued that Israel should have, as a result of its early success in the battle against Hamas, gone all the way and claimed victory over this Islamic terror regime.Hamas has up to twenty thousand armed men. Using the military analogy Israel would have to kill or capture five thousand Hamas fighter. The fact that under one thousand people have been killed clearly shows that Israel has been using surgical strikes and operating with utmost caution, although even this method of warfare results in civilian casualties. Yes, there will be scenes of destruction to buildings and infrastructure, but the death toll is small for the amount of tonnage dropped on the area.

The defeat of Hamas, despite the objection of the international community, would have heralded a new chance for peace in the region. The removal of Hamas from power in Gaza could have enabled the Fatah faction of the Palestinian Authority to take charge of the area, as they began to do after the last Palestinian elections. They could have strengthened their control over this lawless territory with an international military assistance allowing Israel to withdraw. This would have the dual benefits of reuniting the Palestinian community and opened the door to renewed and more hopeful peace negotiations with Israel.Should Hamas retain control of the Gaza Strip peace negotiations will be set back for a prolonged period until the Palestinians themselves remove Hamas from office.

It will be up to the Palestinians themselves to defeat Hamas if they truly want to live in peace alongside Israel.

The growing discussion in Israel is centered on stopping the future capability of Hamas to rearm, with even greater stockpiles of weaponry, as Hizbollah has been allowed to do in Lebanon.

Hizbollah has built a greater stockpile of sophisticated missiles, rockets, anti-tank, anti-aircraft weapons under the noses of the UNIFIL forces that were sent to southern Lebanon precisely to prevent such an escalation.

Egypt has been a direct and serious player in the arming of Hamas over the years.

Almost all the weapons and missiles in the possession of Hamas were smuggled through the hundreds of tunnels from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, or carried over the Egyptian border in the Sinai.

These weapons did not suddenly drop from heaven at the Rafah located tunnels. They were imported into Egyptian ports, passed through Egyptian customs,. transported on Egyptian trucks hundreds of kilometers to the area of Rafah where they were physically passed to the Palestinians and smuggled through the tunnels.

At each stage, money changed hands. The weapon smuggling trade is highly profitable. Bachsheesh (back-handers and bribes) paid to the highest and lowest levelsin Egypt have kept the Hamas war machine well supplied.Egypt receives handsome dividends in indirect payments from Iran to turn a blind eye to their war patronage of Hamas.

The diplomatic effort is in full force to find a solution to prevent Hamas from receiving fresh stocks. This at a time when Iran has been finding ways to supply Hamas with even more deadly rockets. It is impossible to get to a solution without the cooperation of Egypt.It is in Egypt's interest to prevent Hamas flexing an increasingly more powerful arm. Hamas is related to the Muslim Brotherhood that challenges the Mubarak government. Yet, Egypt chooses not to clamp down on the smuggling routes.

A proposal to introduce a UN force to supervise the tunnels has also been rejected by Egypt. For years, the Egyptians have been trying to reduce the size of the UN force in Sinai against the strong objections of Israel. Against this background the Egyptians cannot allow themselves to do an about face and approve an increase to the international force on its territory.

The Germans, who have developed equipment to detect tunneling activity, have offered their assistance to the Egyptians.

It is a fundamental condition of Israel that the IDF will not withdraw from Gaza until a guaranteed formula is found to prevent Hamas from acquiring and reinforcing their armament in the future.

One consideration is that the IDF will patrol and supervise the weapon tunnel area along what is known as the Philadelphi Route if all other diplomatic efforts fail.

The military pressure on Hamas will continue until politicians can reach a formula acceptable to Israel.

Saturday, 10 January 2009

I have been reporting to you that Hamas has killed at least seventy five Palestinians in the last eight days.The dead were members of the rival Fatah faction of the Palestinian Authority living in the Gaza Strip.The reason for the slaughter was Hamas fear that the Fatah members would inform the advancing Israeli forces of the whereabouts of Hamas leaders, terrorists, and weapons stores.

This is a continuation of the civil war when Hamas violently took over Gaza, killing many Fatah men.I happen to have been in an Israeli hospital at that time with the lucky ones. They were the ones who escaped with serious injuries and were treated by Israeli doctors and nurses.

Now I have been given footage of the Hamas brutal rein of terror within Palestinian society after they took control of Gaza.

Israel is fully aware of the true face of Hamas. Israel has been distressed by the neutral attitude taken by a lot of the Western media who have been trying to put a human face on Hamas through the Palestinian kids who have been victims of the current violence due to Hamas using them as human shields and cannon fodder.

By focusing on the civilian casualties the liberal media has been exploited and distracted by Hamas from the root cause of the conflict.

Please be warned. This footage is truly shocking. It was filmed by Palestinians and the commentary is by a Palestinian.You will see a Palestinian wedding party being shot at by Hamas gunmen. You will see Palestinians rounded up by Hamas and marched off for execution.

This film is dynamite. It must be shown. Please distribute, especially to those who do not believe Israel's case against Hamas.

This video must be sent to your local and national media. It must be shown by your local TV station. Please pass this on.

Friday, 9 January 2009

The 9th January is a significant date.This is the date that Hamas declared that elected Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is no longer the valid Palestinian leader. Hamas does not recognize him as their leader any more.Hamas have challenged the ruling that Abbas stay in power until January 2010 claiming that his term of office expired on Friday.They now have their own candidate and they will force their man on Palestinians everywhere.How is it possible to make peace with a Palestinian entity in which Hamas will emerge from the ashes like an evil phoenix and impose its will on all Palestinians?

The media and the ceasefire. Both are wrong for Israel. Both are wrong for a permanent peace.

All too few journalists have written articles in support of Israel's war effort against Hamas.

The reprehensible thing is that those journalists who have are considered brave for writing common sense opinions and factual pieces about the conflict here.

Sadly, 'public opinion' has been biased by the media for years to portray the 'poor suffering Palestinian' against the 'mighty and brutal Israelis'.

This has now become perceived truth when actually it is absolutely wrong. If the Palestinians have suffered it has been due to their bad and brutal leadership, from Arafat to Islamic Jihad to Hamas.

Somewhere, lost in the mix, is the fact that the majority of people in Gaza voted for a radical Islamic regime avowed to wipe out the Jewish state.

And this was after Israel forcefully evicted Jewish settlers from their beautiful homes, agricultural developments, small industries, based in the Gaza Strip, and turned them over to the Palestinians as a gesture of peace, a brighter future, and in the expectation that this sacrifice and unilateral withdrawal would create the embryo of a new state for the Palestinians of Gaza.

Instead, Israel got a mini-Iran on our doorstep, led by a lethal Islamic terror organisation, bent on the elimination of the Jewish state.

The Strip became training bases and launch pads that resulted in eight years of rocket and mortar fire into Israel, as well a terror attacks, one of which resulted in the hostage taking of Gilad Shalit two years ago.

The industrial facilities we left them became the rocket manufacturing plants that killed or injured us.

They raise their kids with a hatred that will continue into the next generation of terrorist and suicide bomber.

Yet, the world condemn us when we say 'enough is enough'.

Israel stands fully behind our soldiers. Should the fighting enter Gaza city it would be a terrible battle , but the vast majority of Israelis want to see a fight that results in total victory over Hamas, not another draw imposed by EU or the UN manufactured ceasefire.

You cannot draw with Al Qaida. You either win or you lose. The same applies to a war against Hamas.

Humanitarian aid for Palestinians, yes. But not a ceasefire to ensure Hamas keeps its grip on Gaza. Not if you want to kill the hope of a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The 9th January is a significant date. This is the date that Hamas declared that elected Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is no longer the valid Palestinian leader. Hamas does not recognize him as their leader any more. They now have their own candidate and they will force their man on Palestinian everywhere.How is it possible to make peace with a Palestinian entity in which Hamas will emerge from the ashes like an evil phoenix and impose its will on all Palestinians?This is yet another serious issue ignored by the media.

Some say you can't win against an ideology like Hamas. However, physically degrading the political and military ability of Hamas to function, and replacing it with the more moderate and elected Palestinian Authority, backed by EU and US forces and under their supervision, would herald the approach of a permanent peace agreement that Israel, the Palestinians, and the world would love to see.

If Israel is forced to agree to a ceasefire and withdraw its troops from Gaza, before eliminating the hardcore Hamas leaders and fighters who are bunkered down under schools and hospitals in Gaza city, the world will soon be treated to scenes of victorious jubilation staged by a resurgent Hamas at mass rallies through the Gaza Strip.

The perception then will be that Hamas won and Israel lost yet another war against Islamic terror (deja vous Hizbollah), despite the destruction of their stockpiles and the loss of hundreds of their terrorists.This will further reduce the deterrent capability of Israel, and embolden our enemies to retrain, restock, regroup, with even deadlier weapons for a future vengeful war against us.

It will also be the death-knell of any hope for a feasible peace agreement, as Hamas will never put aside their Charter and Islamic determination to remove 'the stain of Israel' from the Middle East map.

This conclusion is being imposed on us because Hamas thrust the faces of dead babies in front of Western camera.I have yet to see Western journalists embedded with Al Qaida or with the Taliban reporting on the killing of innocent cvilians and children by coalition forces in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Instead, the British and US soldiers are portrayed as brave fighting men and women fighting a just war. The war scenes are deliberated kept sterile. They always show soldiers firing at some distant enemy, or patrolling streets and conversing with the locals. Against Israel they show a different perspective.

The media has been suckered into accepting the exploitation of dead children by Hamas while shunting aside the exploitation of live children, used by Hamas as human shields.The death toll of civilians, on either side, is tragic. The media would have us believe that this was avoidable had Israel not asserted its rights to defend its citizens. What would they have us do? Walk into Gaza city with an arrest warrant?

It is the Hamas exploitation of children is a crime against humanity, not Israel's war against the terror regime that controls the Gaza Strip. Yet the media refuse to confront this issue fairly.Instead their growing criticism, backed by the pictures coming out of Gaza, are forcing diplomats to stop a just war against Islamic terrorism.

The initial result will be that Hamas will emerge from their undergound bunkers and claim victory.

The end result will be that Israel, the Palestinians, and the world, will nervously nervously wait for the next round in an ongoing conflict that could have been prevented had the diplomats and the media stood firmly behind a democratic nations' brave determination to remove 'the stain of Islamic terror' from our region, and the world.

THE VIEW FROM HERESubject: Hamas Children.While crying over the suffering of the Palestinian children in Gaza, let's take a close look about who is conducting International Human Rights crimes against them.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTGbP55HGi8With the cynical and criminal use of children as human shields in their battle against Israel, Hamas is also guilty of war crimes.Will some organization prosecute them? Or will they continue to blame Israel?Please forward.

THE VIEW FROM HEREThe media has, in its knee-jerk fashion, roundly condemned Israel for the attack on a UNWRA school yard in Gaza.They did so automatically without checking, or accepting, the facts.The IDF were under a mortar bombardment that was launched from the schoolyard. The Israeli artillery that fired at the Hamas terrorist were responding to this mortar attack on the Israeli soldiers and were therefore, acting to defend the soldiers under attack.Hamas was firing mortars knowing there were children present in the area. To do so knowingly is a war crime.The IDF also questions to the total number of casualties and the statements that no Hamas terrorists were in the area.The western media put out the Palestinian statement that there were no Hamas operatives in the area as if it were a fact.This is a lie. See the article below.This same school was the site of a similar mortar attack on Israeli towns and villages in October 2007. The IDF took footage from a drone of this incident. See the youtube video below.The evidence is irrefutable that Hamas uses the protection of schools, mosques, and hospitals to launch attacks against Israeli civilian targets. This is a war crime.Barry Shaw. The View from Here. Israel.IDF Spokesperson January 6th, 2009Hamas Operatives Killed in UNRWA SchoolAfter an investigation that took place over the past hour it has been foundthat amongst the dead at the Jabalya school were Hamas terror operatives anda mortar battery cell who were firing on IDF forces in the area. Hamasoperatives Imad Abu Askhar and Hassan Abu Askhar were amongst terroriststhat were identified to be killed."We face a very delicate situation where the Hamas is using the citizens ofGaza as a protective vest," IDF Spokesperson Brig. General Avi Benayahu saidfollowing the incident.Link to Video of Mortars Fired from UN School (archive)In this October 2007 footage from an unmanned plane, terrorists are seenfiring mortars from the yard of an UNRWA school.www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmXXUOs27lI&feature=channel_page

We keep hearing about Gaza being the most densely populated area on earth.This is a media lie.

It is part of a media attempt to portray and to dramatise the conflict between Israel and the Hamas terror regime as a humanitarian crisis on an unprecedented scale.This also is untrue.

I will be sending facts about the convoys that have delivered food, fuel, medicines, medical equipment, etc., as well as the huge amounts of funding received by Hamas into the Gaza Strip, in another email.

Basically, these are media lies with an underlying motive to portray Israel is an unfavourable ( to put it mildly) light and to portray the Palestinians to be suffering for no better reason than an aggressive and brutal Israel.All media lies compounded by their repeated use.

For now, please receive key facts relating to the population density of Gaza in relation to other areas of the world.

Compare Gaza (8666 people per square mile) with Monaco (41,608 people per square mile).

Compare Gaza (8666 people per square mile) with Cairo (82,893 people per square mile) !!

Those wanting to explain the current conflict between Israel and Hamas can best make the parallel between two national agendas.

Israel is desperate to reach a concrete peace agreement with Palestinians who are split between a weak Fatah and a strong, radical, Hamas.

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, has an agenda for the destruction of the Jewish state in the name of Islam.

Where were the pro-Palestinian protesters, angry at the destruction of the Hamas infrastructure in Gaza, when Israeli civilians were targeted and rocketed by thousands of Hamas missiles and mortars over the last eight years?

Why is it that, suddenly, they are so vociferous? It is because they support the Hamas Islamic agenda, and angry to see their shared dream being destroyed.

I suggest you use these arguments when approaching your local and national media about their reporting of the conflict.

Several demonstrations have taken place to protest Israel's attack against Hamas and other terror organizations in the Gaza Strip.

Most are led by pro-Palestinian supporters, and Muslims wordwide. Many are plainly anti-Israel, and possibly anti-Semitic, but they have recruited prominent but misguided public figures.

One ill informed spokesperson is singer Annie Lennox. No doubt she legitimately grieves for innocent civilians who have been killed or wounded in the recent fighting.My question is where has she been up to know?

Where was Annie Lennox the last eight years when innocent Israelis have been bombarded by Palestinian missiles and mortars? Where was Annie Lennox when the children of Sderot, Ashkelon, Nahal Oz, have become shell-chocked from the rain of five thousand rockets?

Let's go back a little further. Where was Annie Lennox when the north and central Israel came under intensive attack from Hamas's big brother, Hizbollah?

The answer is she was silent. Not one word in support of the thousands of Israelis cowering from prolonged Islamic missile attacks over many years both from across our northern and southern borders. Not one word.

Now, when the Israeli Government, under duress from an angry population, strikes against the terror organizations that have been allowed to strengthen their weaponry and manpower, Annie Lennox finds her voice.

Annie Lennox is unable to differentiate between targeted civilians and active terrorists.

In June 2007 Hamas took over the Palestinian Authority's main compound in the north Gaza Strip in a bloody coup that killed many Fatah fighters. Over this incident Annie Lennox was silent. It was from this compound that Hamas terrorists set out in two vehicles to attack the Kerem Shalom Crossing (which is the main transit point for humanitarian supplies from Israel into the Gaza Strip) on 19th April, 2008. Their attack injured seven Israelis before the Hamas attackers were driven off by the IDF. Again, Miss Lennox held her tongue.On 27 December this was one of the initial targets of the Israeli air force. The compound was destroyed and many Hamas personnel, not expecting an attack from Israel on the Shabbat, were killed.Now Annie Lennox finds her voice.

Tel Zaatar in the Jabaliya district was transformed by Hamas into a military training base. It also became the main headquarters and weapons storage facility of the Izz al-Dinn al-Qassam Brigade, another Islamic terrorist organization that has lethally struck at innocent Israeli civilians and children.This terror training center and weapons dump was totally destroyed by the Israeli air force killing numerous terrorists in the process.Now Annie Lennox weeps.

The Al-Islam base in the northern Gaza Strip was the Palestinian Preventive Intelligence headquarters that was commandeered by Hamas in their civil war against Fatah.It became the main building for the Hamas Executive Force. Many Palestinian Fatah prisoners were brought in for interrogation, torture, and execution by Hamas. It was also the offices of the special Hamas naval patrol.This building was destroyed in the surprise air strike by Israel on 27 December killing many Hamas operatives.This has upset Annie Lennox.

Hamas's main headquarters in the center of Gaza city was hit killing many Hamas terrorists.Annie Lennox is now voicing her protest about the loss of life.

At Tel al-Hawa, south of Gaza city, is the Hamas security services headquarters and weapons storage facility. The Izz al-Dinn al-Qassam Brigade also stored weapons and vehicles, and had their offices there. No civilians lived in this compound. During fighting, Hamas snipers were positioned in the building, and rocket launchers were placed on the roof of the building.The Israeli air attack destroyed this building killing many terrorists.This has clearly caused Annie Lennox to side with the pro-Palestinian protesters.

The disproportionate killing of Islamic terrorists has forced Annie Lennox to find a voice that was silent when innocent Israelis endured decades of bombardment from the north and south.

The Gaza Strip was a prosperous region of peaceful agricultural and soft industry development at the time of the Israeli withdrawal. It has become a sprawling hotbed of Islamic radicalism and terror as the following (limited) picture gallery will display.

If Annie Lennox believes that innocent civilians have been indiscriminately or deliberately targeted, she should look at this limited list ofPalestinian casualties:

i) Tawfiq Jabber , chief of the Hamas police in Gaza City . In the past a trusted colleague of Arafat, during the past two years he was often attacked by Fatah for making it possible to suppress Fatah activists in the Gaza Strip.Tawfiq Jabber (December 27, PALDF)ii) Ismail al-Ja'abari , responsibility for Hamas's security and police defense services in Gaza . His role consisted mainly of providing protection for senior Hamas figures. He held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was appointed to his post by his brother, Ahmed al-Ja'abari, commander of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza , in June 2007 (Hamas's PALDF Forum, Al-Zeituna and Al-Jazeera TV forum website, December 28).Ismail al-Ja'abari (Al-Jazeera TV forum website, December 28).iii) Ten Popular Resistance Committees operatives, among them Muhammad al- Adgham, commander of the artillery unit . On December 28 the PRC website reported that he died in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City .iv) Police officers' course cadets.v) Ahmed ‘Ashur , governor of the Central Gazan District.Most of the casualties either wore Hamas uniforms and carried its weapons or worked for it. According to Palestinian media reports, a small number of civilian were also injured because Hamas headquarters and bases were located in populated areasFollowing are some examples of terrorist operatives killed in the attacks, taken from Palestinian websites:a. In the poster which appears on the front page of the present Information Bulletin, there are photographs of 17 Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades operatives killed in the attacks.b. On December 27, the Popular Resistance Committees announced that ten operatives were killed, including Muhammad al-Adgham, the organization's artillery officer (PRC website, December 27, 2008).c. Photographs of terrorist operatives which appear on the PALDF forum on the Hamas website.Examples of photographs of terrorist operatives killed in the IDF attacksAbu Khaled al-Zahra, Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades operative (PALDF, December 31, 2008)Abu al-Salem Abu Abda, Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades Operative, killed on December 27 (PALDF, December 31, 2008)Muhammad Talal al-Sabil, Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades operative killed in the attacks (PALDF, December 31)Alaa Ibrahim al-Qatrawi, Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades operative, standing near an Al-Batar anti-tank launcher (PALDF, December 30, 2008)Amin al-Zurbatli, Izz al-Din al-Qassam (PALDF, December 29, 2008)Muhammad al-Tabasha, Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades operative (PALDF, December 31, 2008)

Hamas terrorist operatives who served in the Palestinian police killed in the IDF attacksThe Palestinian police in Gaza is a manpower resource pool for military operatives of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Killed in the Israeli Air Force attacks were Hamas police officers and members of the interior security who serve in its military infrastructure. One example follows:Muhammad Yahya Muhanna in a Hamas police officer’s uniform (PALDF, December 30, 2008)Muhammad Yahya Muhanna, a commander in the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (PALDF, December 30, 2008)

Last night another senior Hamas terrorist, Ali Zacharia Al-Jamal, was killed in an air strike.

This weekend, Annie Lennox will lend her voice to the pro-Palestinian demonstrators who would have Israel stop killing their Islamic heroes.They recruit misguided people, like Lennox, to spout sympathy for their cause and, too quickly, people like Annie Lennox take to the cameras and microphones.

We in Israel regret the loss of innocent lives but we have a war going on right now. It is a war against a vicious, cynical, Islamic enemy that hates Jews, hates Israel, is determined to see the eradication of the Jewish state, and is preventing the prospect of a peace agreement by hijacking the moderate Palestinian majority.

How could Annie Lennox place herself at the head of a pro-Hamas rally?

I like Annie Lennox music. I have many of her songs of my ipod. However, if she cannot see the justice and need for our current campaign against this dangerous cancer she should keep her mouth shut until she is able to use it for the gift that God gave her – to sing, and not to give comfort to those who would harm us.